It won't be ready for the season opener, but when the new Lakeview football field finally greets its Spartan fan base, first-year Superintendent Dr. William Patterson knows that group will be excited to see it.

"It's going to look beautiful. This will be a great spot for the football community," Patterson said.

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Currently, the Lakeview football stadium is full of dirt, bulldozers and workers who are busy with the installation of a state-of-the-art field turf sports facility. The original 2022 football schedule had Lakeview hosting city rival Harper Creek at Spartan Memorial Stadium in the first week of the season. That Week 1 game, set for this Thursday, will now be played at Harper Creek.

"We are on track for our first home football game on Sept. 23," Patterson said. "Our first game was supposed to be Harper Creek here next week, but we figured out early in the process that we weren't going to be able to play that game here. So we moved that game to Harper Creek."

There were brief thoughts about taking the game possibly to a different venue such as Western Michigan University or Olivet College. Playing at Harper Creek made the most sense to officials, with Lakeview getting to host the traditional crosstown rivalry the next two seasons in exchange.

"When we knew we would be butting up against that first game, at one point there was a discussion of other places to play that game. But that didn't make sense to make everyone to drive to a place like that. There were also some costs associated with playing at other sites like that. So this works best and we also get that game two years in a row back here," Patterson said.

The new field will feature artificial field turf, instead of grass, and will be highlighted by an expanded electronic scoreboard. A new track will also be placed around the football field.

"It's exciting. The scoreboard went up Sunday. The field turf was delivered today and they will start laying that tomorrow," Patterson said on Thursday. "They will start the track on the 22nd of this month. Everything is looking good for that first game on Sept. 23."

The new field was made possible due to a bond passed in December of 2021 that also will finance improvements at the middle school and at the elementary schools. The Spartan Memorial Stadium project had a price tag of just over $2 million.

"First, we have to thank the community for passing the bond," said Kyle Kracht, who was the athletic director when construction first began but has since stepped down to get back to the teaching ranks at the high school and spend more time with his family. "This is an awesome thing for our community. It's a little bit about keeping up with the Joneses, with a lot of school districts moving toward this kind of field, and that was a big selling point for the community.

"It's really exciting for an athletic department to be able to transition to this and to be able to use it and enjoy it."

Contact Bill Broderick at bbroderi@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on Twitter @billbroderick